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So what’s the exchange rate between Swagbucks and real bucks? Most of the time, 1 Swagbuck pays out 1 cent. You’d need at least 300 Swagbucks to cash out your account. So these 300 Swagbucks would become $3 in PayPal cash or gift cards. To put matters in perspective: You may earn 40 to 100 SB points answering a survey that takes 5 to 10. Based in El Segundo, California, Swagbucks.com is an internet search and marketing engine that permits members to earn a virtual currency called Swag Bucks by conducting specific online activity like searching, shopping, filling out surveys, playing games or finding content. Swagbucks collects information on every member.
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Sign up for Swagbucks here: our full Swagbucks review here: Swagbu.
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably wondering is Swagbucks legit and can you really earn money by using the site. Well you’ve come to the right place.
Here I’m going to share with you exactly what Swagbucks is all about, if it’s legit and the real ways to make money using the site.
When you’re done reading my goal is to remove all doubts because let’s face it, there’ s a lot of nonsense out there. Ok, let’s go. So first question,…
What is Swagbucks?
Swagbucks is an Internet search engine (powered by Yahoo) and a cashback website. The site pays you whenever you use it to search the Internet, answer surveys, and everyday activities such as shopping online.
Although it might sound questionable, there are many people seem out there who are making money from the site.
Swagbucks Real Money
The company rewards you with digital points called SB. The points are redeemable for either gift cards or merchandise. Swagbucks claims to have paid out more than 300 million dollars to its members.
It is one of the largest reward websites out there with more than 15 million users.
How Swagbucks Works
Swagbucks is free to join and the sign-up process is pretty simple. To sign up, you need to visit the Swagbucks website or signup through the app.
All you need is to fill out a signup form where you’ll provide your email address and password. After signing up, you get a $5 welcome bonus.
New users who use referral links to join Swagbucks are rewarded with 500 SB. You can redeem your points for a gift card to use on major stores like Amazon.
How to Earn Swagbucks and Bonuses
Using the site to do an online search will earn you random SB points. You can earn any number of points ranging from tens to hundreds. One way you can increase your points quickly is by referring your friends to Swagbucks.
NOTE: You earn points when a friend you refer joins only when they complete the requirements. You receive 10% of your friend’s points on any points they earn. The points will accumulate up to the time you redeem your points.
9 Ways You Can Make Money on Swagbucks
In addition to searching the internet, there are other ways you can make money on Swagbucks. These include:
1) Shopping Online
You can earn Swagbucks by shopping. Remember it’s not just normal online shopping, but using the website or app to do the shopping.
Also, you can use Swagbucks’ browser extension. This will notify you in case the websites you visit to do shopping offers Swagbucks.
2) Answering Surveys
Influencing brands and answering surveys can earn you gift cards. Most of these survey are short and can take about 10-20 minutes depending on the length and number of the survey questions. On average, each survey pays you around 75 SB.
How long each survey takes and how many points you can earn are all provided. The answers you provide when completing the surveys can either increase or decrease your future chances of participating in those surveys.
The good thing is that Swagbucks will give you survey questions from a niche that is a good fit for you based on your preferences.
One last thing on surveys is, before taking part in the survey, you will be required to confirm that you will provide honest answers otherwise you risk losing your Swagbucks account.
3) Watching TV Programs
If you love watching new stuff to learn or entertainment, then this could be a great opportunity to make some money with Swagbucks. The company has partnered with Reuters, Hulu and Food Network to give you video content.
When you watch videos, you earn SB points. The videos are usually short and last about 2-3 minutes. Each video is usually worth about 1-3 SB points.
4) Search for codes
Swag codes are text strings that can qualify you to earn Swagbucks. The strings are not easy to get because they are only offered during certain times. Each Swag code carries a predetermined number of points.
One way to earn codes is by downloading the Google Chrome Extension. You will get an alert on where to find the code.
It could be on social channels like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter or even the Swagbucks blog. The codes are redeemable on the Swagbucks website.
5) Sign up and get offers
This is one of the best ways to earn money on Swagbucks. When you discover special offers from Swagbucks and its partners, you can earn rewards.
Each offer comes with its own guidelines. It’s important that you read the rules of each offer to understand how they work.
6) Play Games
Swagbucks offers free games that you can play and get rewarded with free gift cards. Swago (a bingo inspired game) is one of the games that involve completing patterns.
When you complete a small pattern, you earn about 5 points. When you complete big patterns you can earn up to 500 points. You can play the game for a week each month.
7) Use Coupons
On Swagbucks you can always find coupons. The coupons can be printed from the Swagbucks website. Use the coupons to make purchases at a store. You can earn up to 10 SB for every coupon that you print and redeem.
8) Participate in Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes allow you to gamble and come away with lots of prizes. Swagbucks rewards a ton of members who win sweepstakes raffles every month. In fact, there are over 25,000 members who participate in the program. Every sweepstakes entry lets you gamble for 1-50 points.
9) Achieve your daily goal and get rewarded
The site sets daily goals for its users. If your goal is 20 SB points and you achieve it consecutively for a week, then you qualify for additional SB points.
When you complete 6 out of 8 of your daily target, then you can earn between 1-4 bonus points.
The points are added to what you already have for all the offer cards you complete.
Some of the tasks that people go the craziest to complete are daily Internet searches, the daily watch, gold surveys, the daily poll and daily crave. Here’s a breakdown of these tasks:
Daily polls require you to answer quick poll questions. They are both fun and interesting to take part in. The questions take not more than 10 seconds to complete and can earn you SB points.
Daily search is simple. You can find it in your To Do list. It requires you to use the suggested search term provided and your goal will be accomplished.
For Daily Watch, just pick a video (of about 6 minutes) and watch it.
Daily Crave gets you credit for completing Ncrave task. To do this, open Ncrave card provided in the Ncrave below the Watch section. There is also a Daily Crave link that you are provided. You can click on it directly to open automatically.
Daily Discover is about checking free daily offers. You can get them on the Trusted Partners category. Filter to find offers that don’t require you to have a credit card or ZIP codes.
Gold surveys are also worth trying. Although they are somehow challenging to complete, you can still give it a try.
The Deal of the Day offers you many products and services you can subscribe or buy. The offers can earn you points.
Swagbucks Hacks
Here are some hacks that can earn you more money. You can triple your earnings by:
Activating cash back. You can do this on your browser extension. If you’ve already installed the extension, the feature will automatically pop up.
Use Honey browser extension to find coupon codes and save something in your checkout process.
Purchase discounted gift cards. Gift Card Granny can help you get a discounted gift card to reduce your total costs.
Is Swagbucks Legit?
Swagbucks is one of the best rewards sites out there. It is a legit site and many people have made money from it. They offer a ton of prizes to choose from.
Although you’re probably not going to become millionaire on the site, the points you earn can help you save big on your purchase through the gift cards.
They’ve also partnered with major stores like Amazon to make shopping more rewarding. No pun intended.
Here are some pros and cons of Swagbucks:
Pros of Swagbucks
They have many reward options
The cash back options are very beneficial
The site is easy to use
In-store cashback is a great deal
They have many ways to earn and increase points.
The browser extension is an excellent feature and works pretty well.
They do in pay out to their users
Cons of Swagbucks
Although the platform is pretty solid, probably one of the biggest drawbacks is that some of the offers require you to put in a lot of work to earn points.
The platform pays out very small amounts for tasks completed making it hard to earn a substantial income.
I’ve heard complaints of long waits to get paid. So this is something to keep in mind.
Conclusion
Overall, Swagbucks is a legit site that has great deals on offers, rewards, and points. The fact that the site is free website means you don’t risk anything when joining. They offer so many ways to make money that it’s worth considering it if you like free rewards and gifts.
Click here to join Swagbucks today and start earning. This platform is one of the more reputable sites online.
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Swagbucks won’t pay half the rent, but you could earn extra money for a couple of movie tickets or a few books each month.
The key is to let Swagbucks reward you for what you already do: online shopping, buying gift cards, surfing the web, watching videos.
Sure, you can put in some extra effort to answer surveys, sign up for free trials, and take the daily poll. But Swagbucks shouldn’t be your main gig — it’s just not built to pay out that much.
What is Swagbucks?
Swagbucks is a site and mobile app. You join for free and then earn points by doing simple tasks. Then, you can redeem your points for gift cards or cash — yes, cold hard cash — via your PayPal account.
The easiest way to earn these points is by using the Swagbucks search engine to do your daily web browsing. This way you’ll earn points without even thinking twice about it.
But this isn’t the only — or even the best — way to earn extra cash. There are many other ways to earn points. We’ll talk more in-depth about them below.
How Does Swagbucks Work?
Real Swagbucks Hack
After you sign up for a Swagbucks account using the mobile app or Swagbucks.com, you can start collecting points — known as Swagbucks (SB).
These points can be redeemed in two ways:
Gift Cards: Cash in your Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards, Visa gift cards, or gift cards to places like Target, Starbucks, Walmart, Home Depot, Old Navy, Kohl’s, and other leading retailers.
PayPal: Deposit your Swagbucks as cash via your PayPal account — which you can then use to shop online just about anywhere — or transfer your cash into a checking account (PayPal will charge a transfer fee).
How Much Money Can You Make on Swagbucks?
So what’s the exchange rate between Swagbucks and real bucks? Most of the time, 1 Swagbuck pays out 1 cent. You’d need at least 300 Swagbucks to cash out your account. So these 300 Swagbucks would become $3 in PayPal cash or gift cards.
To put matters in perspective:
You may earn 40 to 100 SB points answering a survey that takes 5 to 10 minutes.
In terms of labor, this could conceivably could rival the federal minimum wage: It’s possible to make 100 SB ($1) in 10 minutes which would become $6 in an hour ($1.25 short of the federal minimum wage per hour). But this isn’t likely. Read on to find out why not.
Is Swagbucks Worth It?
Stringing together enough surveys or tasks to payout a steady flow of income isn’t really possible.
In reality, you’d be spending time browsing for surveys or considering product trials — and that’s time you wouldn’t be paid for. This is true for just about any survey site. The amount of time you put into the surveys doesn’t payout efficiently.
You may spend a few minutes reading about a survey before discovering you don’t fit the demographic. Or a study you do qualify for might fill up before you get going on it. Either way that’s time wasted from an earning perspective.
All this translates into a low return on your investment of time. Often, you may earn only a dollar an hour, or less.
When Swagbucks Is Worth It
But if you are sitting on the couch binging your favorite TV shows, why not earn some points when you aren’t doing anything else? It’s not exactly free money, but if you have plenty of free time, it’s pretty close.
Like I said up top, it all depends on how you see things. If you’re looking for “make money online” ideas to replace your day job, Swagbucks won’t hold up, and this wouldn’t be a legitimate review if I didn’t let you know this right now.
But if you want to turn the time you already spend on your phone or laptop into extra money, keep reading. With Swagbucks you could earn enough to buy a couple movie tickets, an extra fast food meal every week, or at least a couple gallons of gas — all without leaving the mobile app.
If nothing else, you could earn enough to pay your Hulu bill or your monthly Amazon prime subscription.
Swagbucks Features
You shouldn’t think of Swagbucks as a job in the traditional sense. The power of Swagbucks comes from its ability to turn what you’re already doing into extra cash. Here’s how:
Swagbucks Video
If you tend to watch random YouTube videos and realize a couple of hours have slipped by, Swagbucks Watch could help you turn your time watching videos into a little spending money.
Your cash flow won’t be impressive. Watching a half hour or so of video content will earn 1 or 2 SBs — only 1 or 2 cents!
If you tab away from your Swagbucks Watch screen, the videos will pause. But you could use a split-screen to keep the videos going while you work on something else.
If you sit at a computer all day and appreciate a little background noise, you may be able to make this work.
But there are more lucrative ways to earn points.
Shopping Online
Swagbucks’ cash back program can generate a better return on your time. It works a lot like Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates).
Just click from your Swagbucks shopping page to an online retailer such as Amazon.com. Swagbucks will get a commission from what you buy, and it will return part of the commission to you in the form of SB points.
A typical purchase would give you 3 SBs for every dollar you spend. Your SBs can stack up a lot faster the more you shop.
Along with Amazon, Swagbucks connects to eBay, Walmart.com, Best Buy, and a variety of specialty stores.
Swagbucks also has a new browser extension, the Swagbutton, that can detect when you’re on a page that participates in this rewards program — pretty convenient.
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Buying Gift Cards
Here’s an even simpler method for earning SBs while shopping: Use Swagbucks’ gift card exchange and earn up to 10 SB points per dollar you spend — that’s 10 percent cash back!
And, you can multiply the cash-back effect by using the gift card you bought from Swagbucks to shop online through Swagbucks.
Swagbucks Search
Swagbucks has its own search engine, and if you use Swagbucks Search instead of Google, Yahoo!, or Bing, your routine searches can generate a little cash.
Installing the Swagbucks browser extension in Chrome, which makes Swagbucks Search your default search engine, can help you get into the habit.
They do not have an established reward schedule for searches, so it’s hard to predict how many points you’d earn. Typically, users earn a few SBs here and there throughout a routine day of web searching.
Playing Games
If you love playing games on your smartphone while standing in line or during movie previews, you could be earning SBs while you play.
You could earn SBs for playing free games, or earn cash back on in-app purchases through games like Bejeweled, Deal Or No Deal, or Casino.
In some cases, you can generate 12 to 15 SBs per dollar spent on games. You will need to turn off ad blockers and keep your Flash Player updated.
Swagbucks Discover
Some of the more lucrative ways to earn SBs require more time and thought. The “Discover Deals” program, for example, rewards you for trying new products or opening new credit card accounts.
With programs like this, you have to be sure you’re not buying something only for the rewards. But if you’ve already been considering a new credit card or trying a new meal delivery service, Swagbucks can turn these choices into some cash back.
Some offers generate a few thousand SBs which would translate into some noticeable cash in your account.
Swagbucks Surveys
You may already know about Survey Junkie which pays cash for your time taking product research surveys.
Swagbucks has a similar service. Every day, your dashboard will include a list of surveys you could take in exchange for SBs.
You’ll see an estimated time of completion and the number of SBs you could earn. You shouldn’t expect to earn more than 100 SBs ($1) for a single survey.
Swagbucks App
Naturally, Swagbucks has a sleek app for iOS and Android users to take online surveys. You can track your SBs, take surveys, buy gift cards; in short, the app gives you mobile access to the web site.
I’m listing the app here because you can now find app-specific ways to earn SBs. Swagbucks Live lets you earn SBs for correctly answering trivia questions and watching movie trailers.
And just so you know: Occasionally someone posts a fake Swagbucks app in the Google Play store. Be sure you’re downloading the real thing!
Entering Swag Codes
Frequent Swagbucks visitors will come across Swag Codes from time to time. The site hides these little strings of codes here and there like little bonus points in a video game. Just enter the codes to cash in free SB points.
Referring Friends
My favorite way to earn money on Swagbucks requires very little of your time. By referring a friend you could earn a 10% commission of that friend’s SB points — indefinitely!
This is where passive income — a favorite topic for any personal finance blogger — enters the discussion.
If you referred a handful of friends who really got into earning extra money with Swagbucks, your own points total could rise without you even logging in. You’d log in only to cash in.
So, why not get on social media and invite everyone you know to join? Because this wouldn’t earn you any SB points. Your friends would need to use your referral code to get connected off your profile.
To get credit, you’d have to invite friends, one at a time, using the “Refer and Earn” tool on your account page. Yes, it’s more time consuming but worth it if you can get a few friends earning points for you!
Is Swagbucks Legit?
So, just how good is Swagbucks? Turns out, it is legit, and it works. The Better Business Bureau gives Swagbucks’ parent company, Prodege, LLC, an A rating. This isn’t a scam.
Some people think it is too good to be true. They wonder how you could earn free money or free Visa or Amazon gift cards — albeit in rather small amounts — for shopping, taking surveys, and watching videos.
Yes, this whole idea goes against our traditional expectations of trading our time and skills for money.
Here’s why it works: Money changes hands online all the time when you see an ad or get directed to an online shopping site and make a purchase. Swagbucks just shares some of that money with you.
Swagbucks is a legitimate way to make money online and to save money shopping online. (It’s just not a way to make a lot of money online.)
By the way: If you’re ever wondering whether something’s a scam, put it to this test: Does it ask you to part with any of your own money, for any reason, before you can join? If not, it’s probably not a scam.
Anyone with an email address can join without paying a dime — so it passes this scam test!
Is Swagbucks for You?
Swagbucks has about 10 million users and has paid out more than $430 million in rewards. The company got its start back in 2008 and has grown steadily. It’s been around almost as long as the iPhone.
As I said earlier, doing this can’t replace your main gig, but if you’re looking for a low-key side hustle that can turn $40 to $60 a month, give Swagbucks a look.
One of my favorite things about the platform is its variety. With so many ways to earn SB points, you should have an easier time fitting the platform into your daily routine.
Swagbucks
9.6
Bottom Line
Swagbucks rewards you for what you already do: online shopping, buying gift cards, searching the web or watching videos. While it won't make you rich, Swagbucks is a free and easy way to make some extra money in your everyday life.